


Weft

by Tvieandli



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Mystery, Supernatural - Freeform, UA
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-20
Updated: 2013-11-13
Packaged: 2017-12-20 19:16:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/890876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tvieandli/pseuds/Tvieandli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius, James, and Peter could do magic. Remus didn't think he was special until he was bitten by a werewolf. Now they're all caught up in trying to find out what no one remembers about the Leaky Cauldron. Alternate Reality. Modern setting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Bite

It was very sunny the day that Remus took the bite. Very sunny, and very noisy, and it all seemed surreal. They'd decided to go out to the woods that day, and all four of them together had taken the metro. Sirius had been all a flutter with ideas of the things they could try out in the solitude of the branches.

"Only a few hours on public transit, and we'll be set to go! Then we just hike a little ways away from civilization, and play around all we want!" he'd said. James had been on board with the idea. He wanted to try picking things up "with his mind". Which, of course, meant that protests from either Remus or Peter would have been useless.

The moon was full, and up by five o'clock, right along side the sun. No one had thought anything about it. Remus hadn't, that was for sure. Not until they'd gotten separated, and the noise had all died down.

Remus had looked around in terror for a while, because the sun was setting, and it was getting dark, and he thought for sure he'd be lost for days in the woods. When he'd heard footsteps it had been such a relief he'd run right for them.

The wolf itself hadn't seemed too weird other than the fact that Remus didn't realize there were wolves this close to people let alone all on their own. Then the thing had been charging him, teeth bared, mouth foaming up viciously, and all the air had gotten trapped in Remus' throat.

He didn't remember much after that. Pain mostly. He remembered pain, and then he remembered Sirius helping him up, with bloody hands, and worrying gestures. They were outside the forest.

"-looking all over for you," Sirius had mumbled hurriedly, before using his cell phone to call an ambulance.

For a while, Remus didn't understand who the ambulance was for. It had all seemed so strange, and then he realized that the blood on Sirius' hands was his. That was when he'd started laughing, looking down at Sirius' fingers pressed into the wound to hold all the red in.

Sirius had been chanting things over, and over that didn't really make any sense, asking questions that Remus couldn't answer. When the ambulance finally got there, Remus remembered Sirius telling them, "We'd just gone for a hike in the woods, and we got split up."

They'd classified it as an animal attack, but no one had really believed it was a wolf. Everyone had told him that was ridiculous. Wolves don't come that close to people these days. Wolves aren't stupid. They know better. And they wouldn't just bite a person willy nilly.

Remus only ever started worrying about the wolf being a bit odd when he started to vomit black viscous liquid. That's when he'd asked Sirius to take him home, and never ever tell anyone what had happened here.

Because Remus knew somewhere deep down in his gut that that hadn't been a wolf. They were all right. Every single one of them. It wasn't a wolf.

The next few days had been more than hard. They'd been hell. He told his mother he had the flu, and Sirius took care of him by getting him anything he needed, and disposing of the weird black liquid where no one would find it.

Sirius had known too. It wasn't too hard to hazard a guess when they did magic, and hexed people, and all that. There were a billion google searches done. They watched the entire first season of Teen Wolf to try and get a grip on the situation, but clearly that had been off by miles, and it had only made Remus feel worse because the characters all looked ugly as sin when they "wolfed out" as Sirius put it.

And then it had all kind of normalized. Three days later, it all seemed like a dream. Remus woke up, and rolled over on the bed, feeling the towel underneath him scratch his skin, but none of the pain from his side.

Sirius was sleeping heavily in the chair in the corner, head lolling one his shoulder. It was like nothing had ever happened. He touched the place where the bite ought to be, and it didn't hurt. He wasn't greeted with an open wound. Just a scar. A gnarled, angry scar, with puffy pink tissue that looked like it was at least three months old.

Remus reached down beneath himself, and tugged the bloodied towel off the bed.

"Sirius?"

Sirius made a noise, and scraped a hand over his face. "Yeah?"

"I think it's over."

Sirius' curious eyes peeked out at him from behind his shaggy hair. "You think?"

"Yeah."

He took a deep breath, and stretched. "So what kind of porn do you wanna watch, because I've got a memory stick fuckin' full of stuff I think you'd dig."

Remus took a moment to blink at the other boy. The absurdity of Sirius' thought process boggled his mind, and there was a moment of silence until the giggles hit, and wormed their way up out of his mouth.

Clearly, being a werewolf hadn't changed anything about the way Sirius saw him in the end.

* * *

**Chapter one: The Bite**

* * *

It was a normal high school really. Only it had Severus Snape in it, and that certainly wasn't normal. James Hated normal things. Which of course would have made Snape sound not half bad, except he was the was the wrong kind of not normal.

So Snape went in the same category as Mormont College: Absolutely Dreadful. He was there with a whole list of things that fell in the AD category like Sirius' foot oder, and Peters habit of leaving crumbs everywhere when he ate. Or the fact that Lilly Evans had still not agreed to go on a single date with James Potter. Or perhaps even how two of James' friends had been missing for the past two days, and no one could account for it past anything more than, "I heard Remus had a really bad cold."

And while most people would think "no news is good news," having no news about Sirius Black was like the sky just randomly deciding it would be white for a day. It was psychologically detrimental. Especially considering James lived with him.

So when James caught sight of Remus Lupin walking in to school with Sirius, and none other than the dreaded Severus Snape, who seemed to be having a casual verbal row with Sirius, he was more than a bit upset by the whole thing. They should have texted. They should have bloody well called, or perhaps notified him by formal email.

Regardless, James Potter was pissed, and when James Potter got pissed, he moved things with his mind. He moved things like chairs, or dishes, or the little doors on cabinetry. Or if he was in a particular mood, Severus Snape, who was suddenly knocked down by a gust of haphazard wind that seemed to have no effect on anyone else in his immediate vicinity.

Severus looked around wildly before catching sight of James stalking towards Sirius, and Remus in a rage, holding out his cellphone.

"Do you see this?"

"Um," Sirius began, and trailed away, not really sure of what he was supposed to be seeing on James' lock screen.

"Do you see this?" James asked again.

"Yes?" Sirius tried.

"No missed calls! No messages! Not-a-one! Where have the two of you been?"

"Remus got a cold."

"I did," Remus said, clearing his throat.

James cast him an incredulous look. "Are you two fucking pulling my leg, or something? Is there something going on that I don't know about? Did you turn gay for each other over the weekend and take Monday and Tuesday off in order to put your hands down each other's pants or something?"

Sirius' mouth pulled tight across his face, but he didn't say anything. Instead it was Remus who spoke up with a "We can talk about it later James. English starts in four minutes."

"No we can't. No we can't talk about this later."

In the background of James' consciousness, Snape had picked himself up, and was glaring suspiciously at the three of them.

"Remus, you never miss school."

"I'm fully aware of that, and now I have to settle with myself the necessity of my prolonged absence," Remus said, shifting his book bag on his shoulder, and trying to push past James. James tried to put his hand out to stop the other boy, but Sirius caught his wrist.

James stopped, and held his breath for a moment, because out of all of them, Sirius had always been the one most likely to actually, intentionally hurt a person. Remus' eyes bugged out of his head when he noticed the grip that Sirius suddenly had on the other boy, the look on his face.

"Now really isn't the time, mate," Sirius said. James nodded, and pulled his hand back. He was usually the one in control. He was usually the one who called the shots, and had the ideas, but when Sirius was done with something that was the end of it.

Snape laughed softly in the background as Sirius ushered Remus towards the school building, and caught himself pinned with a death glare. He would find himself in a shit storm by lunch, James promised no one in particular.

Sirius, and Remus maintained their odd aloofness all through their first couple of periods, refusing to respond to texts, or questions in the hallway, and Neither James or Peter seemed to be able to break through the silent veneer.

It was only when lunch rolled around, that Sirius showed up, and dragged them into a janitorial closet.

"So, I need to swear the two of you to secrecy right here, and now," he said, refusing to turn on the light.

"On the the Marauders' name, do I swear," they both chanted."

The light clicked on, and they all turned to see Remus standing behind Sirius.

"On Saturday, I got bitten by a wolf in the forest," Remus said.

"That's impossible!" Peter responded almost instantaneously. "Right, James?"

"Yeah, that's pretty unlikely, mate."

"The three of you do magic, can you hear me the fuck out?"

James, and Peter gave a collective sigh.

"Sirius found me, and called an ambulance, and I was checked into the ER at the closest hospital. Everyone told me my story was preposterous, and I knew they were right, but I also knew what had happened."

"That's when he started puking black stuff, and asked me to take him home," Sirius said. There was a dry cast to his words, and his face, and James suddenly knew that this wasn't a joke. He wanted it to be, but it wasn't. Sirius didn't joke around about these sorts of things. Not like this. And there wasn't even a reason for Remus to pull one over on them like this.

"Sirius stayed with me to keep my mum, and dad from noticing. I was sick for three days, and I bled the whole time. Then, this morning, I woke up feeling fine, and the bite was all scarred over."

"Let me see it," James said, pointing at Remus with his chin. Remus pulled his shirt up to show of the gnarled pink skin right above his hip. It looked like something had bit into him, and then shook it's head to try and tear the meat off his bones.

"I'm probably a werewolf," Remus said.

Peter was biting nervously at his nails.

"I mean we don't know anything for sure yet," Remus said, dropping the edge of his shirt back down over the scar. "It could have just been a wolf, you know? Or a big dog?"

Sirius looked grim again. Grim, and pale underneath the yellow light.

"So you're probably a vampire then," James said to Sirius, trying to be funny. Everyone gave him a long, silent stare.

"Nah. I think he'd be a werewolf too," Peter said after a moment.

The look Remus gave them probably could have killed a man.

"Sorry," Peter said to his feet.

"Look," Sirius said. "If he is a werewolf, we need to find a way to keep him isolated by the next full moon."

James had a feeling that that "if" wasn't an if at all.

"How about we buy a dog crate," Peter suggested lamely.

"I don't think that'll do anything, Pete," James said.

"If Remus really wants to get out of one of those, I'm sure he will. We need to find somewhere secluded, and lock him there so he can't get out."

"For now I figure my closet at home will do. I'll go in, and one of you will chain up the door, and put something heavy in front of it," Remus said.

There was a moment of silence at the thought of Remus being stuck alone in a closet all night.

"We'll think of something better, Rem," James assured him.

They found their way back to the cafeteria, and sat down solemnly with their lunches. James didn't even notice Snape, and Lilly talking in conspiratorial tones a few tables over.


	2. Speak Of The Dead

Sirius stared at the ceiling. It was what he did most of the time when he was home. There wasn't much to think about. Other than the whole wolf incident. He hadn't been home since then. It felt like an eternity.

Remus had eaten fourteen raw hotdogs and soon as he felt better, which was more than a little strange because after a nasty run in with a piece of veal when they were twelve, he'd sworn off meat all together. Sirius had wanted to take the packages away from him, and tell him he wasn't allowed to do that.

He hadn't. He hadn't really done anything. There was this pit in the bottom of his stomach telling him he was responsible for the whole thing. That he should have been there to stop the wolf. To take the bite instead.

It was a familiar feeling, but for the life of him he couldn't remember what it reminded him of. there was this horrid sense of deja vu that just gave him blank pages when he reached out to it. He felt so very often like a book that had been unwritten. There was something forgotten in the back corners of his mind, waiting to be woken up, and tapped into. It made him sick to think about too much, because he was sure that was were all of his half remembered nightmares came from.

They were same horrible things that made Regulus run to him in the middle of the night, and sit on the rug by his bed not saying anything or looking him in the eyes. It was the same reason, he was sure, that the Potters had no idea where he or his brother had come from.

"We adopted you when you were ten, remember?"

"Yes," he would always say, "But from where?" and there would be this awkward silence. They'd look at each other, and be silent.

He hated that. Regulus hated that. It's what they fought over most. Wanting, and not wanting to know.

Remus was the only person he'd ever told about that. About the weird things no one seemed to remember. He was the only person to whom he had posed the rhetorical question "Who are the Blacks?".

No one had ever answered that question. Sirius doubted that anyone ever would. Somewhere out in the world, he had a mother and a father, though, and he would probably never meet them.

There was a knock on the door, and Regulus peeked his head in. Sirius didn't say anything. There wasn't anything to be said. The room was dark. The sun was hiding somewhere on the other side of the world, and they were both sitting there in the silence thinking about the black things that the Blacks couldn't possibly know any longer.

* * *

**Chapter 2: Speak Of The Dead**

* * *

The pounding in Remus' head wouldn't ease away. The only thing that stupid show had been right about were the enhanced senses, and he didn't know how to cope with them, really. The world was so loud, and so smelly. Amanda Bailey, the girl sitting in front of him had gotten her period, and so had her best friend, and in the next classroom over, the French teacher's grating voice rattled on, and on which was so very distracting that he couldn't focus on the Maths lesson he was supposed to be listening to.

Sirius' heart beat thudded an extra time as the door opened. The whole room suddenly smelled like Snape. Remus looked up. James wasn't in this class, thank god. The only vendetta the Marauders really had with Snape was James' jealousy. Leaving just Sirius' loyalty a problem.

Sirius looked to him for cues. Remus didn't have the ability to give him any.

"Late again, Snape?" Peter asked as the boy found a seat. Mr. Markstead was writing on the board. Something about equations that made the marker scream against the lamination.

"Are you really one to talk, Pettigrew?" Snape asked.

Sirius looked like a confused puppy, not knowing what to say. Remus opened his mouth to ask to be excused, and vomited black bile onto his desk. The whole room went silent, and he felt more than saw or heard, Sirius' hackles rising. Sirius the defender had reared his head from within the goofy bully.

Mr. Markstead turned around to the chorus of disgusted sounds that followed, and Sirius desk screeching across the linoleum as he tried to shield Remus from view. Snape's eyes burned hot on Remus' neck. Hot, and strange.

"Lupin?" Mr. Markstead asked. Remus vomited again, clutching at his stomach almost frantically. He felt like something was clawing to get out of him, an angry, hateful thing. He tried to breathe, but there was bile in his nose.

Sirius' hand was on his shoulder. There were people scrambling to get away from him.

"I think you need to excuse yourself, Lupin," Mr. Markstead said calmly.

"I think he needs to go to the hospital," Peter said.

Sirius snarled at him, looking much more the part of a werewolf than Remus doubled over, and retching onto his desk, trying desperately to get away.

"I'll take him," Sirius declared, Helping Remus up.

"I'll carry the bucket," Snape said.

There was a tense moment of Sirius staring at Snape, hands hard on Remus' arm to hold him up, and then Remus vomited again, and Snape was holding a bucket in front of his face. They ambled slowly, Sirius holding him while he tried to hold down whatever the stuff was. It tasted like tar, and burnt things, and smelled like death.

"We need to talk," Snape said.

"Not to you, we don't," Sirius snapped, holding Remus tighter.

Remus gasped for air, and then there was something wooden poking him in the side, and Snape was mumbling something under his breath. It eased. Everything eased, and settled, air started coming, and his stomach calmed.

"I can help," Snape said, laying a hand on Remus' back.

Remus laughed softly. He felt tingly like he had the first time he'd ever been spelled. "Help with what?" he asked.

Snape smiled, which only served to further accentuate the severe beak that was his nose. Remus Lupin paused, suddenly struck with a sense of foreboding. Behind him, Sirius was a tense ball of muscle waiting to be told where to punch.

"I know about magical ailments," Snape said. "I can help."

"Ailments?" Sirius asked venomously. "I don't think you really know what you're talking about, mate."

"I know more than you do, Black, that's for damn sure."

Sirius had a look on his face as if something had just struck him, but Remus could hazard a guess that it had little to do with Snape's last comment.

"You know, Snape," Sirius said, "When you go about saying my name like that you sound like a violent racist. I think I'll cut a couple holes in a pillow case, and you can just wear that about."

Remus coughed.

"Your friend could be dying right now, you understand that?"

"And I'm supposed to trust you with this? You've been nothing but rotten to us."

Snape looked taken aback, and Remus understood perfectly well why, but he was able to see both sides of the argument. As usual, he was the middle ground. His hand on Sirius' biceps was all that was really necessary in order to defuse the ticking time bomb that was the other marauder.

"It's okay, Sirius," Remus said. His side was feeling slick, and angry he noticed, and when he looked down there was blood dripping down onto his trousers.

"Take us somewhere secure, Black," Snape said, but the way he was standing he had no way of knowing that Remus was bleeding, that was all between Remus, and Sirius. Sirius Nodded, scooping Remus up in his arms, and leading the way there as fast as he could.

"Do you carry a sewing kit on you, Snape?" Sirius asked as he turned a corner sharply, making Remus' stomach lurch. It was amazing how easily conversational he was. His face was placid.

Snape made a face. "Why on earth do you need a sewing kit?"

Sirius toed open their janitorial closet, and set Remus down on the floor. "He's bleeding," he said calmly, putting pressure on the scar on Remus' side. "I thought you said this was over with," he muttered.

Snape's face looked even more pale when the light had switched on, and he was able to really see just how much blood there was. He knelt down, and nudged Sirius out of the way. Remus could see how difficult it was in that moment for Sirius to actually let that happen. But Remus nodded, and that was all he needed.

Snape pulled his shirt up, and hissed unappreciatively at the newly reopened wound on Remus' side.

"Is this what I think it is, Lupin?" he asked.

Remus tried for a shrug, and only half made it, wincing at the pain it caused. "Depends what you're thinking."

"Werewolves?"

Remus chuckled mirthlessly.

"We were out in the woods on Saturday. He got split up from us," Sirius said. It was all the explanation that was really needed.

Snape nodded, and produced a stick from his sleeve, holding it to the wound. "Tergeo," he said under his breath. The blood was sucked into the end of the thing, and Remus ground his teeth together.

"Next time," he said softly, "You should probably warn me you're about to do that."

"Take a deep breath, Lupin," Snape said, flicking the stick, and holding it again very close to the bite. He muttered something softly, almost like he was singing, and it knit itself mostly together, and then he repeated it a bit louder, "Vulnera Sanentur," and it closed up completely.

Remus let the breath he was holding out. "I didn't realize it would open up like that again," he said softly into the silence.

"You need to teach me how to do that," Sirius said.

"I doubt you'd be able to, you're a muggle," Snape snapped.

Sirius' hair seemed to gain a life of its own, raising slightly off his scalp as his expression darkened. "What the fuck did you just call me?"

"I called you a muggle, it means non mag-"

"I know what it means," Sirius murmured.

Snape looked as dumbfounded as Remus felt. "How?" Snape asked.

"I just do. It's what you call normal folks, who can't make things wiz around rooms, or seal up wounds with sticks."

"It's a wand."

"Whatever, witch boy."

Snape made a face. "I'm going to finish helping Lupin now," he said very pointedly, and turned back to Remus. He pointed the wand at Remus' mouth this time, and said "Consapectus" firmly. Remus felt like something had been lifted off his chest.

"I doubt that'll do much in the long run, but it's good enough for now. You should go up to the nurse's office, and rest up a bit. I'm sure Black would be delighted to take you without my continued company."

Snape made to leave, but Remus caught him by his sleeve. "Well, first I wanted to say thank you," He said, before paling a bit, and looking down, "And then I wanted to ask you if maybe you could get rid of the blood. People might wonder if we've been sacrificing animals or something."

Snape almost smiled again, but didn't. Instead he waved his wand, and sucked all the blood out of Remus' clothes, and off Sirius' chest. He left it on Sirius's hands though, and added a small. "You probably have been sacrificing animals," as he got up, and left.

"Fuck off, Mudblood," Sirius hissed. Snape stopped in the door, and looked back curiously at him before closing it quietly. Remus felt odd, and out of place as he adjusted to sit up properly.

"Sirius?"

"It's nothing."

It clearly wasn't nothing, but Remus knew better than to push at it.

Sirius walked him to the nurse's office in silence. The nurse's eyes bulged at the sight of them, and Remus touched his face, only to have his fingers come away with black puke on them. He frowned, and felt more than a little embarrassed by the whole thing now that he wasn't in the swing of it.

Sirius left him like that, with his hands balled up so no one would see the red on them.

Remus washed his face, and then spent the rest of the day in there, begging the poor woman not to call his parents about it, and worry them. His kicked puppy look won him out in the end, but she still insisted on sending him home with a note.

That note ended up mysteriously lost somewhere in the depths of Remus' backpack, and never actually found itself in its intended hands. Remus almost felt bad for it.


	3. The Forgotten Notes

A/N: So I see I've got some repeat readers, and I guess that means it's time to put a little disclaimer out there. I work fast. Like super fast "this person has no life and just sits at home and writes" kind of fast because i don't have a life and I just sit at home an write. That is until I get to the point where I know the end is nigh, and then I backpedal so hard, I have to excuse myself from writing the fic for a couple weeks to get a chapter up. Which means I seem really late, but I do very much intend to finish this, and any other multi chapter fics I currently have running. Thank you for reading.

Sirius was staring at him, and had been for the last four minutes. The question "You're friends with Snape, right?" hung in the air over his head like the sword of Damocles. Regulus Black felt cornered.

"I suppose," he said, but that was a gross understatement, because Snape was basically one of the only people who bothered talking to him. They ate lunch together, and sometimes Snape even took him places. Regulus did in fact, count the other boy as a friend, but that didn't matter under Sirius' scrutinous eye. Because if Sirius was asking, he was up to something.

"Oh, come on, it's more than that," Sirius insisted, leaning in so that Regulus was further trapped. He braced a hand on the wall, and stared deep into his little brother's eyes.

Regulus wondered briefly if it would be to his benefit to kick Sirius in the balls. He came to the conclusion that it would not, seeing as his brother was bigger, and stronger, and had beaten grown men in fist fights pretty easily before. Not to mentions Sirius was Batman levels of tenacious, and he never forgot a transgression. Even some seemingly harmless happen stance could be a weapon in the hands of Sirius Black.

"We spend time together if that's what you're asking."

"And does he ever teach you things?"

"Why in the hell would you want to know?" Regulus asked. Sirius gave him half a shrug, and looked over his shoulder a moment.

"He does the same kind of stuff we do, but he knows more, and I want you to tell me what he knows," Sirius intoned in a low voice.

"Are you crazy, Sirius?"

"Absolutely bonkers, you know that."

Regulus gave him a disgusted look. They weren't close. Sirius never really paid him any attention, and if he did it tended to be because he wanted something. It was something that Regulus hated. It felt like a perpetuation of things that had happened millions of times before, and somewhere deep down, Regulus had a need to trust his older brother. It was an implicit desire that stung when it was betrayed.

Like now. "Why do you care so much anyway?"

"Because you, and I are both intelligent enough to know that playing with fire without the proper equipment can burn the house down," Sirius said urgently.

"Look, he doesn't even know about what I do. I've never told him."

"Then do it, Reg," Sirius demanded. His voice was soft, but his intentions weren't exactly obscured by it. Regulus rolled his eyes. "Do it for me," Sirius insisted. "I'm your brother."

Regulus winced, because that was the argument that always got him.

"Please?"

He was loosing. He was loosing so horribly.

"Okay," he said softly, refusing to look Sirius in the face. He knew what the smile would look like. He knew how the excitement would light up Sirius' eyes.

"Thank you so much, Reg!" The hug came out of nowhere. It was an unexpected response, but it felt nice. It was good. Sirius' arms wrapped up around his shoulders, and pulled him in, squishing him hard against the older boy's chest.

"But you have to promise," Sirius said, pushing Regulus back away from him, and looking him dead in the eye. "You have to promise that you'll tell me everything he tells you."

Regulus frowned, took a deep breath, and nodded knowing that he had essentially signed a contract with the devil. The second hug that Sirius pulled him into softened the blow.

* * *

**Chapter 3: The Forgotten Notes**

* * *

Severus had found the notes when he was thirteen years old. They were all hidden. Like puzzles. He liked puzzles. They tended to follow a sort of formula. The formula of this particular puzzle was a set of runes.

The runes allowed him to chronicle the notes, and lead him to the next one. He poured over the picture books from his childhood, and the frames on the walls in the hallway, flipped through old books in the attic, and assembled a set of twelve notes ranging in length from three or four sentences to multiple pages of full paragraphs.

Every one of the notes was signed "Prince", and they told him all about the world before. They described libraries, and great banks filled with goblins, schools for the magically gifted. They told him about his abilities. They told him about the life that had been behind the walls and alleyways of the muggle world, where wizards and witches had lived, and loved, and warred, and died, and eventually disappeared from sight, but they never told him why.

The last note, the hardest of all to find, which was buried under the floorboards beneath his bed, ended with the painful sentence, "And the worst part, my Prince, is that none of us even remember".

He'd wondered for hundreds of nights, staring at the light from the street lamp outside his bedroom that fell through the blinds, who Prince was. It was only when his grandmother came to visit, and lost her wallet in the couch cushions, that he found out. His mother's last name had been Prince before she got married.

His mother was Prince, and Prince didn't remember any of it. She would never know what she had left for him hidden in plain sight.

So he'd gone alone to the leaky Cauldron, and tapped on the brick wall with the wand he'd dug out with the final note. This was where Gringots was hidden. Where they'd sold owls, and brooms, and spell books.

He'd stood in awe staring at the old abandoned buildings, leaning at impossible angles. He could see the forgotten majesty there. It was like looking into his mother's face. He'd spent countless hours wandering the empty streets of Diagon Alley, pouring through books, and shops, picking through Olivander's for his own wand, and learning. Slowly. Afraid every moment of the note that had told him people knew when he did magic. They knew, and they would stop him. The note that warned him never to be caught.

He was alone though. Like always, he was alone. And for years he had wished that there were other witches, and wizards out there waiting to be found, and told, but he never met a single one. Until the day he'd accidentally sat down next to Lilly Evans in history class his first year of high school, and she'd levitated a pencil half a centimeter over her desk out of sheer boredom.

She had been the first person he'd ever brought with him to Diagon Alley. The only other person in the world who helped him pour through books. Together they began to learn things. Spells, and potions. They'd formed a miniature Hogwarts together in the carcass of old shops. Apothecaries became their dungeons. Libraries became their charms classrooms. Together they'd run through this long dead world, and discovered all the secrets left to them.

Tuesday was for transfiguration. It was Snape's least favorite subject, but Lilly was determined to master everything set out in front of her. So she sat next to him, trying her damnedest to turn a looking glass into a weasel. The botched results were absolutely hilarious.

She finally managed to get the mirror to grow a face, and legs, and it's handle turned into a tail, but it kept the reflective glass embedded in it's back as it scurried away, making strange sounds like a small, flat faced dog.

Severus actually fell over laughing as she made an indigent sound of frustration, and summoned the thing back to her with a flick of her wand. Her mastery of charms was really quite impressive. Better than his by far, and he'd been studying years longer. She caught it by pressing both of her hands down flat on it's reflective back. The hand mirror squirmed, and made a whining sound, and finally gave up.

She looked at it sighing in defeat. It was furry, and brown, and honestly looked nothing like any sort of weasel Severus had ever seen.

"I'm rubbish at this," she said to the little grunting thing as it took deep breaths. He picked it up out of her lap, and held it so he was looking it in the eye. It was kind of shaped like a pancake, and it's eyes were too far apart, but despite all that, he really couldn't find it in himself to dislike it. It was almost kind of cute.

"I like it," he said as it wiggled, and continued making a horrendous amount of noise.

"You're just trying to be nice." She flicked a little pebble across the book store's ruined floor, as she pouted.

"Not really," he said, turning it to one side, and then the other to look at it's belly. He wondered for a brief moment if it had all of the necessary internal organs needed for living squished somewhere in there, or it was just plain magic that kept it ticking- or wheezing rather.

He put it down on his thigh, and touched it's tail, surprised to find that it was still very stiff, and very much like the original handle had been, only now it was covered in fur. "It's still really weird though."

"Do you ever think about it?" Lilly asked.

"About what?"

"About how it might be cruel to do something like this. I mean, I know we're just practicing spells, but what must it do to a thing to be turned into something else, and then back again? What do they think while they have brains, and legs, and all that? How do they feel? Does it hurt to be turned back again, or is it relieving?"

The mirror weasel turned a shifty eye on her as Severus scratched it behind it's little round ears. "I don't think it's any more cruel than actually being alive is," he said softly.

"Do you really think living is that bad?" Lilly asked.

Severus felt his brain turn over to the side of it that dealt with all the horrible things in his life. His mother's deadened face. The way his father was. Being hit. Being alone. James Potter, and Sirius Black.

He decided that instead of bringing all those things up, he should change the subject. "Regulus asked me about magic today."

Lilly raised an eyebrow.

"He said it was because of something his brother said, which makes sense because I had to patch Lupin up in a closet the other day."

"Oh my god, what happened to Remus?" Lilly asked. The mirror weasel twitched nervously under Snape's fingers.

"I think that's more of his business to talk about than mine. It seems like the kind of thing that'd be pretty personal. Anyway, Black happened to be there. Seemed strangely docile though. After I finished up, he asked me to teach him the spells I'd used. Which is when things got really weird."

"How so?"

"He knew what muggle meant, and seemed really offended I would insinuate he was one. Then he called me a mudblood."

"What's that mean?" Lilly asked.

Severus winced. "Well it's a really nasty thing to say from what I can tell. It means someone who's born of muggle parents, you know?"

"So someone like me?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think that was a problem back in the old days? Who your parents were."

"Seems like it was to some people, but there are all sorts of books written by people who think other wise. Still, it seems like it was kind of like the difference between being black or white, or straight or gay, you know? Pure bloods got more respect despite what some people thought, or differing opinions just because they had family credibility."

Lilly looked vaguely troubled.

"All of that's over with now though, I mean, look around. I haven't seen anyone complain about your blood."

The joke made her smile despite it's off color nature, which was settling to something nervous in his chest.

"Still though," he said, thinking again about Sirius, and the look on his face, as he'd spat the word at him, "It makes me wonder how he knew."

"Maybe Sirius is from the wizarding world," Lilly suggested quietly. "Maybe he's a pureblood," she joked.

Severus paused. That reminded him of something he'd seen. He picked the mirror weasel up, and walked over to a stack of old daily prophets lying on a table. They were crumpled, and falling apart, some of them eaten by moths, but there were others that were still readable. A headline of on one said, Walburga Black Sentenced To Life Imprisonment In Azkaban For Association With The Dark Forces.

He hadn't thought anything of it before, but the name Black now shouted at him. Maybe Lilly was more on point than she thought.

There was a picture of a woman beside the article that followed about the Blacks of Grimauld  
Place that depicted a woman with impeccably styled hair, and heavy lidded eyes giving the camera an aloof gaze. She was nearly completely still until she blinked once, and resumed her odd gaze. She looked just like Sirius.

Severus looked back at Lilly, holding the mirror weasel, and took a deep breath.

"You might actually be right."


	4. The Mystery Of House Black

A/N: Short chapter this time. This ones about a thousand words less than usual, sorry. I hope it's got enough advancement, and character development in it to make up for that.  
  
    Lilly put a hand hard over her mouth. The article itself outlined Walburga Black's life, and ties to an organization called the Knights of Walpurgis. Severus stood beside her, and made face after face at the insinuations of the beliefs that followed the group's stance on blood purity.   
  
    "It all seems so arcane," she said. "Do you really think this is Sirius' mother?"  
  
    "There's no way of really knowing that," Severus said, flipping over the page. There was an image that depicted a tall man being walked out of the front door of a nice townhouse captioned Orion Black Taken Into Custody On Alleged Affiliation With The Dark Arts.  
  
    "They're like the Klu Klux Klan," Lilly said. Severus made another face. The mirror weasel was wiggling in his hands again, making little grunting sounds. "Do you think we should tell them?" she asked.  
  
    Severus shook his head. "It's none of our business," he said. He was always saying things like that. She hated it.   
  
    "So what? We just leave them in the dark?" she asked incredulously.   
  
    Severus shrugged a single shoulder. "Maybe they already know," he said. "I mean, they would have been pretty young, maybe they escaped whatever weird thing happened to everyone else."  
  
    Lilly glared at him. She didn't know why it all made her so upset, but she figured that if her mother had been the equivalent of a Nazi, she would have liked to know.   
  
    She plucked the mirror weasel up out of Severus' hands, and turned away, ignoring the last few paragraphs of the piece. The strange animal grunted, and bumped in her hands, but didn't actually manage to squirm it's stiff little body too much.   
  
    She honestly didn't know what to do with the thing. Much like she didn't know what to do with her irrational anger, or the Black brothers in general. She sat back down on the floor, and placed the thing in front of her.  
  
    It took a moment, to stand in apparent confusion on it's stubby little legs before turning around to look at her curiously. "Do you think there were actually people that horrible?" she asked.  
  
    Severus sighed. "There are always people that horrible. It doesn't matter what side they're on."  
  
    He was right. She hated it when he was right about these sorts of things, and yet he always was. He'd told her that it was because he had horrible parents, and she believed him. These days if she caught him with bruises she didn't know if she should blame his father or Sirius who seemed to be James' hand of unjustified violence.  
  
    "Do you think that's why they all left?"  
  
    "Because of purism?" Severus asked, sitting down beside her to pet the weasel.  
  
    "Yeah."  
  
    "Maybe," he said.   
  
    She didn't know what to think of it all. There were horrible people everywhere. Even the places she ran to when she was trying to escape. Even in the tattered remains of the wizarding world, you could find the traces left behind by the rotten apples.  
  
    "At least they're all gone," Severus said.   
  
    She had to agree with that. She didn't know where they'd gone to. Maybe they'd all followed Walburga Black to the island prison, or maybe they were like Snape's mother now, living with all their memories shoved deep down in boxes so that no one could get to them. Maybe they were dead, or just gone. No matter what though, they weren't there. And how could they care about the purity of her blood when they weren't even around to think about it?  
  


* * *

  
**Chapter 4: The Mystery Of House Black**

* * *

  
  
    Regulus didn't expect Severus to actually talk to him about it. He had expected it to all be odd little nods of the head, and sweeping him under the rug. He didn't expect to be sat down in an empty class room, and asked to move a stick across a desk.  
  
    "What?"  
  
    "Move it," Severus had said.  
  
    So Regulus had looked at the stick, really looked as hard as he could, and frowned, and made faces, and nothing had happened.   
  
    "Why am I doing this?"  
  
    "I just need you to move the stick."  
  
    Regulus sighed, reached out, and nudged the stick.  
  
    "No," Severus said. "Don't touch it."  
  
    Regulus had felt an anger creeping up his throat, clawing at his tongue.   
  
    "Why?"  
  
    "Just do it.  
  
    "Why?" he shouted, and the stick had picked itself up, and thrown itself against the wall behind Snape's head.  
  
    Severus had looked at him then, eyebrows raised, and tapped his fingers on the desk. "Thank you," he'd said as Regulus sat back down.  
  
    "Now I'm going to ask you a couple of questions."  
  
    And so Severus had asked him how long he'd been making weird things happen. Regulus told him that he'd been doing his whole life. As long as he could remember. So had his brother. Then Severus had asked him about his mother, and he'd hit that weird mental wall in his head. All the black. There was just nothing there.  
  
    He's sat there, and stared, and been unable to answer until Severus said "okay" and let him go with a small apology. Regulus hadn't slept that night.  
  
    The next day, Severus had picked him up early, and put him on a train, and they'd taken it all the way to London. To an odd pub named the Leaky Cauldron that had a few smelly old men in strange clothing sitting inside, and a bartender with no teeth, and out the back door.  
  
    Then Severus had reached into his sleeve to pull out a polished, brown stick, lovingly lathed, and turned, and sanded with lacquer on it to make it really shine, and tapped a pattern on the brick wall.  
  
    Nothing happened, and just when Regulus was about to laugh, and tell the other boy to stop pulling his leg, a brick had shifted. Then suddenly they were all shifting. All of them, pulling back, and away to make a sort of arch way, revealing a little street filled with buildings that leaned at impossible angles.  
  
    It looked desolate, and creepy. Like some sort of ghost town, but Regulus had a sense of knowing as he looked at it, like he was staring at something he'd seen a million times.  
  
    "Diagon Alley," he said, stepping through. He could see the shops the way they once were, see the ghosts of people wandering to and fro amongst the hustle and bustle. He wanted to cry. There was this horrible pain in his gut as he turned back to Severus. "I've never been here before," he said. "I don't know why I know. I don't know why, but that's Olivanders where they sell wands, and that's Eyelop's Emporium. Madam Malkins where kids get their robes as they're about to go to Hogwarts for the first time."  
  
    He was crying. All the shop fronts were boarded up, and even though he didn't know them, had never seen them, it hurt to see them like that. He wanted them to be alive, and full of life again. He pressed the heals of his palms into his eyes, and took a deep breath.   
  
    "I've never been here," he insisted. Severus was standing next to him suddenly.  
  
    "I think you've had you memory wiped," he said.   
  
    Regulus shook his head. "Why on earth would they do that?" he asked.  
  
    "I don't know, but they did it to my mother."  
  
    Regulus felt a terrible sinking sensation in his stomach. "I wonder what happened to all the animals," he said, staring at Eyelop's. "Do you think they're running around somewhere?"  
  
    "I think so," Severus said. "I've run into some odd things."  
  
    "Like what?"  
  
    "Well, two days ago Lilly transfigured a hand mirror half way into a weasel," he said. Regulus held his hands to his mouth to try and hold in a laugh, but it fought it's way out anyway as if his mind felt the need to balance itself against the sudden sadness.  
  
    "I think you're more than old enough now, Regulus," Severus said. "Lets go get you your wand."  
  
    Regulus felt a sense of strange wonder well up in him. There was pride there, pride, and hope, and it all came bubbling up his throat into his cheeks, and pulled his lips into a smile.  
  
    "I can't wait," he said. There was a half imagined thought from somewhere far away that he would have done this with his mother. That there would have been a spindly old man. Maybe someone he knew. A man with strangely colored eyes who would lean over a counter, and give him the perfect piece of wood, with the perfect care poured into it.   
  
    There was none of that.  
  
    Instead there were rows, and rows of dusty boxes, some water worn, and torn, some in relatively good shape. They looked like thin shoe boxes, and they pulled wand after wand out of them so Regulus could give one a wave, or poke the air with another.  
  
    Finally, he settled on a wand with a dark wooden handle, and a light tip, holding it lovingly in his hand. It was his wand. It had chosen him. He was so proud. He felt like a little boy, sitting behind the counter in a wand shop, finally holding the piece that had decided it was going to work for him.  
  
    "I'm a wizard now," he said softly.   
  
    Severus smiled, but didn't say anything.   
  
    Eventually, when they'd put all the boxes back, they found their way into a book store with Obscur as all that was left hanging over the door. And they ran around picking basic spell books off the shelves, and throwing them down so that they could pour through them.  
  
    They spent their time practicing charms, and hexes, and making fools of themselves, and when it was all over, Regulus asked if he could come again.  
  
    Severus nodded as he tapped the bricks back into place, covering the entrance again with nothing but a plain wall. "But if we do, I'm going to ask you more questions."  
  
    Regulus nodded. He figured that was a good trade off for all of the things this gave him. All of the things that some horrible wall of dark nothing had taken away.   
  
    Obliviate, some strange voice in his head said, as he stepped through the door to his room, clutching books to his chest.


	5. Enter The Marauders

A/N: I feel bad that I didn't get Peter in here sooner, honestly. I don't want to leave him out, and give him no representation, you know? Also, good moms because a little dose of healthy home life is good way to mitigate Severus.

* * *

  
    There was a great rolling wind on Monday morning. It came down over the roof tops, and bustled through the neighborhoods rattling doors. It woke Peter up as he was dreaming about being somewhere low down, and watching people's feet as they walked by, and he immediately decided that he didn't really want to go to school that day.  
  
    Sure James, and Sirius would be there, but Remus would still be dealing with all the werewolf things. Maybe puking black at any minute, or suddenly threatening to bleed out in PE. It wasn't that Peter didn't care. It was just that he didn't know what to do, and not knowing what to do made him feel useless. He was sick to his stomach of being useless.   
  
    He got dressed anyway though, and found himself standing in the living room, watching his mother make tea in her night gown.  
  
    "Are you feeling well?" she asked, scooting a mug over the counter toward him.   
  
    "Not really."  
  
    "You mom can always tell," she said happily, ruffling his hair. "Now tell me what the matter is," she insisted."  
  
    "Remus is sick, and it's making everyone all nervous," he said, stirring his tea aimlessly.  
  
    "Sounds tiring. I always get tired when people I care about are in pain. Not because I don't love them, and want to take care of them, just because I need some time away. It's why me, and your dad split up," she added, taking a sip of her tea. "It was nobody's fault really, and I don't blame him for it, but I wasn't able to keep up with his needs, so we just ended up resenting each other. If you need to Peter, you can always take a break. I'm sure Remus will understand, he's a really caring boy."  
  
    "I know that," Peter said, "But I still don't want to let him down."  
  
    "You won't let him down if he's still got other people. You can all take turns making sure he's the best he can be right now."  
  
    He smiled softly, and tapped his spoon on the lip of the mug to dry it off before setting it down. "I guess when you put it that way, I can trust Sirius, and James to help me out," he said.  
  
    "That's my boy. It's what we Pettigrews try, and do isn't it? Look at the bright side. You're never alone."  
  
    She was always saying that, but Peter tended to feel alone anyway. He felt alone almost all of the time. He felt alone when he walked into school that day, and none of the other Marauders were out on the lawn to greet him. He felt alone when he put his bag in his locker, and looked about the quad for any sign of them.   
  
    He didn't even see Remus.   
  
    What he did see was a big hand come out of nowhere, and pull him back against the fence by the edge of campus. Then he heard Sirius whispering through the wrought iron bars.  
  
    "Go get your bag, and meet us by the old tree A S A P."   
  
    Then the hands were gone, and Peter was left with a vicious smile on his face. Sirius only got like this when something big was about to happen. A ball of nervousness leapt beneath his tongue, making the bottom of his jaw itch where it joined with his neck.  
  
    The old tree was more of a stump these days. At some point the ash had died, and withered over, and another tree had begun growing out of it's center, up through the cracks. Remus was sitting at the foot of it looking bored next to Lilly and Snape as James, Sirius, and Regulus were speaking in hushed whispers a few feet away.  
  
    Peter looked from one group to the other, and back again, noting very strongly that they both seemed to have switched a member.  
  
    "Welcome to the shadow cabinet," Remus said sarcastically.  
  
    "Regulus has been arranging this little get together behind our backs for a week and a half now," Snape put in. Lilly shoved jokingly at his shoulder, and he gave her a half hearted sneer.  
  
    "We're going to London today," James called. "Field trip!"  
  
    "Why are we taking them?" Peter asked, pointing at Snape, and Lilly.  
  
    "Regulus wouldn't take us without having them along to make sure we don't do anything stupid," Sirius explained.   
  
    "What stupid things would we even be doing in London?" Peter asked.  
  
    "We're going to a pub!" James said excitedly. Sirius rolled his eyes which seemed completely out of character, but maybe it was genetic because Regulus was doing it too. In exactly the same way, which was a bit creepy. Peter decided that he didn't really want to see them stand next to each other anymore because it was like Sirius had been met his shorter, less attractive doppelgänger. Not that Regulus was ugly, just that it was really hard to look good when standing next to Sirius.  
  
    Everyone hated him for it too because they knew it. A couple of times it had made Peter consider finding new friends.  
  
    James' giddiness didn't take a blow from the silent ribbing though, and decided to accompany them all the way to London, yammering on, and on about having a pint.  
  
    No one else seemed to share his excitement. Sirius was excited that was for sure, but it was in that barely restrained wild way it tended to be, and the way his eyes were burning, it most definitely not about a pint of anything. Remus on the other hand looked nonplussed, and maybe even a bit angry that he was being dragged along. He kept complaining to the similarly bored Snape, and Lilly beside him. Regulus looked guilty. Like he thought he'd done something wrong. It was a look that wiped itself off his face when he was pulled under Sirius' arm.  
  
    Again, Peter was left feeling the outsider. And then they arrived, all pouring out near King's Cross. Snape, Lilly, and Regulus took a natural lead, taking them down Charing Cross Road, and finally stopping. Sirius looked up at the building reverently, which struck Peter as odd, because he was on board with James' expression of complete confusion.  
  
    It was a tiny thing, run down, and ragged that looked like no one ever went in it at all, and it was a bit of a wonder that it even still existed. it was the kind of thing that no one missed when they wanted to build a super mall over its corpse.  
  
    Snape didn't really pause in going through the door. Neither did Lilly, or Regulus. Like they'd been here a million times. Sirius on the other hand took time to stroke the jam, and adore the peeling paint until Remus dragged him in. Peter decided that Sirius was most definitely high, and wasn't sharing, which made him very upset as he stepped through the door behind James.  
  
    Inside was even worse. There were a couple of what looked like homeless people sitting in the back, and a toothless man behind the bar who all turned to fix them with odd looks.   
  
    "Hello, Tom," Snape said calmly.  
  
    "Come to route through my dumpster again, have you Prince?" Tom asked. All of the Marauders exchanged glances, save Sirius who was too busy stroking a table lovingly. As if he hadn't seen it in a very long time.  
  
    "That's all I ever do, isn't it?" Snape said in response. The bartender let out a husky, dry sort of laugh, and pulled a rag out to wipe the counter down with.   
  
    "And brought your friends along too. Don't know what it is you keep finding out there. Probably Narnia. Narnia in a dumpster," the man muttered as Snape lead his way through the room, and out the back. Sirius followed last, still looking about in awe.  
  
    "Oh my god!" Sirius exclaimed once they were outside. "This is it isn't it?"  
  
    "It is," Snape said as Sirius rushed past, and placed his hands flat against the brick wall.   
  
    "This is amazing. Do you know how many times I've dreamt of this place?"  
  
    Everyone looked confused. Peter didn't understand a thing. James was sulking though. Probably for lack of a pint.  
  
    "You'll have to forgive him," Regulus said as Sirius tapped an odd pattern on the bricks with his finger. "That's a lot of emotions, you know?"  
  
    "I figured I suppose, watching you. Never thought I'd see your brother in such a state though."  
  
    "I'm still here," Sirius said before holding out his hand behind him, "Regulus, give me your wand, I want to see if maybe I can get it open."  
  
    "Oh, don't be silly, Black, we haven't got all year," Snape said, but Regulus was giving Sirius a little stick anyway, and Sirius was tapping the bricks with it in the same pattern.  
  
    Nothing happened, and Regulus laughed, taking the stick back in order to retrace the pattern. "I didn't think that would to it really," he said as the wall opened up. "Good try though."  
  
    "Fuck," Sirius said, staring at the place beyond, and fuck was right because it was all desolate, and dead on the other side. "This isn't exactly what I thought Diagon Alley would be."  
  
    "I've got to back you up there," Regulus said, stepping through after his brother.  
  
    James looked just as dumbstruck as Peter felt. And then Sirius was off at a run, loping over old carts, and spinning around in the middle of the street like it was paradise.   
  
    "It's amazing though!" He shouted as Snape tapped the wall back into place behind them.  
  
    "I don't think your head's on straight!" Peter called after him. Snape made an annoyed sound.  
  
    "Let's get you to Olivander's before you do something ridiculous," he said.   
  
    "I know where that is!" Sirius exclaimed before diving into a weird little shop that had most of what must have been gold lettering pealed off of it's front. When everyone was in, and Peter followed with James, he found that it was filled with shoe boxes stuffed into shelf upon shelf on top of one another. Sirius was already behind the counter, pulling them out.  
  
    "There was an old man!" he said happily. "He was so thin it was like he was going to blow away in the wind!" he took a stick out of one of the boxes, and waved it before shaking his head with a frown. "And he had these weird eyes, didn't he Regulus?" Sirius didn't wait for a response before waving another stick, it made a whacking noise, and Sirius shook his head again. "Too much. He was always saying that thing, you know which one I mean! "The wand chooses the wizard!" I remember because there was this time that mom-"  
  
    And suddenly Sirius stopped, looked down at the sick in his hand, and said. "I don't remember."  
  
    "She broke her wand, Sirius. She broke her wand hitting you over he head with it," Regulus said. "I found a note in a ledger back there that described the incident."  
  
    Sirius threw back his head, and roared with laughter though it didn't seem funny that his mother would be hitting him over the head with something hard, and wood. "It must be head trauma then!" he said, pulling out another wand, and flicking it. "This is the one," he said reverently.   
  
    "What's it made of?" Lilly asked following him in to get a better look at it.   
  
    "I don't know," Sirius said. "It's black."  
  
    "Suits you," was Lilly's verdict upon seeing the thing close up.  
  
    "You want to hold it?"  
  
    Regulus snorted with laughter. Snape hit him lightly in the arm. "You're always asking women to hold you wand, Sirius!'  
  
    "It's bad habit, sorry."  
  
    Lilly looked ready to commit murder. "I won't hold it, but someday, I'll duel you."  
  
    "Someday?" Sirius asked. "Want to brush up on your defense, Evans?"  
  
    "That's not it," she said. "I just wouldn't feel right beating up on a little boy."  
  
    "I will take you anywhere, any time," Sirius intoned when James finally spoke up with an "Oi, stop making eyes at my best mate, Evans!" and followed them over the counter.   
  
    "Where's mine?" James wondered aloud.   
  
    "Ask the wands Jamesy. They're the ones that pick," Sirius said.   
  
    Peter followed, and pulled a box off the shelf. Just looking in it he could tell that one wouldn't work. Remus was the last person, and he only went in because Sirius insisted.  
  
    "I can't do magic," he said, not for the first time.   
  
    "Just look. If you don't find something, you don't find something."  
  
    So James had found his "Mahogany," he said, waving it about, "got a bit of bend to it".  
  
    Then Peter found his. It was shorter than James, and a lighter brown, and it didn't really bend, which made him sort of upset, because if they'd matched it would have been better. It was just a bit after that that they heard Remus' voice from the very back.  
  
    "Oh my god!"  
  
    "What?" Sirius asked loudly, scrambling over boxes.   
  
    "I think I just found my wand," Remus said, holding up a simple one, and staring at it in awe.  
  
    "Don't do magic, eh?" James asked laughing. Remus shook his head.

* * *

  
  
**Chapter 5: Enter The Marauders**

* * *

  
  
    Sirius had a surprising grasp of things already. He, and James were about three miles ahead of Peter, picking things up, and generally worrying Severus' currently tender heart. He had a feeling that the ones who knew could be lurking around any corner.   
  
    "Just how much did you practice before all this?" He asked as Sirius summoned a book, and banished it repeatedly, catching it each time before it hit the wall.  
  
    "Everyday. Alone. With James. Didn't matter. I had these little hexes I could throw at people make them trip, and fall on their faces down to a T."  
  
    "What's the incantation?" Severus asked.  
  
    Sirius let the book drop mid flight toward him. "What do you mean incantation?"  
  
    "Silent magic is harder than magic with an incantation. And it's triple that difficulty without a wand."  
  
    "S'a really simple hex," Sirius said.  
  
    "Show me."  
  
    "Alright," Sirius said, handing Severus his wand, and then turning to look at Peter. Peter tripped.  
  
    "That could be a coincidence."  
  
    "Oh yeah?"  
  
    Peter got up, and immediately tripped again, swearing at the floor, and his shoes.  
  
    Severus glared. "How did you manage that?"  
  
    "I dunno. I had to manage somehow, you know?"  
  
    "How old were you when you moved in with the Potters?"  
  
    "Ten."  
  
    Severus nodded. That was just shy of Hogwarts age. It was possible that his parents had begun teaching him things. Still, the idea of what Sirius, and James were capable of doing with a wand was a bit daunting.  
  
    James was reading from a transfiguration text book, and casually turning a quill into a needle and back over, and over again.   
  
    "Alright," Severus said, "We need to keep the levels of magic down, so I'm going to limit us to one spell at a time, and nothing too big.  
  
    "Really" Remus asked.  
  
    "Yes."  
  
    "So that means this one's right out?"  
  
    "Which one?"   
  
    Remus held up a book, and pointed to a page were a drawing of a wizard was expelling a shimmering phoenix from his wand.  
  
    "Patronuses are completely out of the question for the time being," Severus said, walking over, and closing the book with a snap. "Before we get anywhere near that, I need to work things out in order for us to be able to keep it secret."  
  
    "Isn't this place secret enough?" James asked.  
  
    "No place is secret enough. We're always being watched. Always."  
  
    Lilly was glaring at the floor in the corner, Regulus was pale. The other four looked confused, but he didn't have the time or the patience to explain it to them. He didn't know if he ever would.


	6. Patronus

The wand was a weight in Sirius' pocket all the way home, reminding him of who he now was. He kept running his hand over his hip to feel the turned handle, the little accepting spark that came from being in contact with it.

Remus had a miniature smirk on his face beside him. James was practically dying with suppressed excitement. Peter looked like his face would split in two with the force of his smile. There was a feeling of satisfaction, of actualization.

There were books in everyone's hands. They would all be reading. They would all be pouring over them, and loving every minute of every theory laid bare before their hungry eyes. This was what they had waited for. To think it would be delivered by the hands of Snape.

The world worked in mysterious ways.

The Marauders ended up curled in the Potter's living room with Regulus, talking about all of it, about Diagon Alley. There were worlds out there. There were worlds they had never touched that could be lurking behind pubs, deep beneath their feet, perhaps even inside them.

It was a great feeling, something open, and needy, and optimistic. Sirius tried his best to encompass that. It wasn't very often he felt truly optimistic. Beside him, for the first time in a very long time, all of the marauders were smiling together. Laughing together. There was a shared sense of peace, and awareness that lulled them to sleep on the floor, and the couches all together.

They were suddenly unafraid of full moons, or final exams. Rejection seemed like a faint memory on the back of their shoulders, its meaning a vague, and intangible concept now. They belonged somewhere.

When Sirius woke up that morning, it was surrounded by the smells, and sounds of family. The one he'd chosen. The one he'd never give up. James was looking at him with a feverish smile, and he suddenly felt the urge to do something stupid.

"We need to do something," James said. "Something big."

Sirius nodded emphatically.

"It's Tuesday," Remus complained. He'd fallen asleep on the couch opposite Sirius' position so that their legs were tangled together.

"We need to go back to Diagon," Sirius said. The smile on James' face only widened.

"No, we need to learn how to do that charm. The Patronus."

Remus groaned.

"No," Sirius said before anything could actually come out of the newly turned werewolf's mouth. "We're doing it."

Regulus didn't approve, and so insisted on following them. "Not on your own, you're not," he'd said as Sirius whipped his coat up off the hanger by the front door. Sirius had handed Regulus his coat as well just to shut him up, and then quickly sworn him to secrecy.

Snape was a massive kill joy, and the last thing they needed was him popping his greasy nose into the pages of their book, and glaring at them. "Too much magic," Sirius said in an imitation of the other boy. James laughed as he skipped sideways ahead of them.

It felt like they ruled the world.

They found their way out to a wooded lot about a mile away, Remus carrying the book they'd swiped from "Four-ish-n-Bot". Their wands were heavy in their hands as they pulled them gleefully from their hidden places on persons. Remus sat down with his book, and began to read aloud.

"This ancient and mysterious charm conjures a magical guardian, a projection of all your most positive feelings. The Patronus Charm is difficult, and many witches and wizards are unable to produce a full, corporeal Patronus, a guardian which generally takes the shape of the animal with whom they share the deepest affinity. You may suspect, but you will never truly know what form your Patronus will take until you succeed in conjuring it," he said.

"Mine will be a lion obviously," James said.

Remus smiled, and shook his head. "The Patronus is tricky because it requires a particular mental state from it's caster which is something nearly entirely unique to it. In order to cast it, the Wizard or Witch must rotate their wand in small circular motions while focusing entirely on the most happy memory in their life."

Sirius instantly felt a feeling of regret at agreeing to this. He didn't think that he had many memories that were happy enough.

"The caster must then recite the words "Expecto Patronum", and they will summon a Patronus. There are two forms of Patronuses. Non-corporeal, which resembles a white mist, and is only a stunted version of the true spell, and Corporeal, which takes the form of a spirit animal, and is the charm's true state."

"So what's you're happiest memory?" Regulus asked the group at large. The marauders exchanged dubious looks. "You haven't got one, have you?"

"Well, what's yours then?" Sirius challenged.

"The moment I first held my wand," Regulus said, holding his arm straight out, and following Remus' directions. "Expecto Patronum!" A thin wisp of silvery smoke emitted from the tip of Regulus' wand, curling out into the air, and dissipating in a shaft of sun that fell through the leaves.

"Choke on that, Sirius," Regulus said proudly, placing his hands on his hips.

Sirius sneered at him, and tried to focus on James' smiling. He held out his wand, and said the incantation. Nothing.

Beside him, James had cast the strongest puff of smoke so far, and was moving it before him as if it were a streamer.

Remus cast a small whiff that quickly disappeared. That left Sirius, and Peter stuck in the same boat. They looked at each other for a moment before Peter smiled wildly, and tried again. And hell if Sirius was going to loose to him too.

* * *

**Chapter 6: Patronus**

* * *

James was the only on to be able to cast anything close to corporeal that day. At the very end of their outing, when Sirius had given up, and cursed his brother mockingly much to Regulus' amusement. It was a jet of silver that grew a pair of antlers. The shocked boy had dropped the spell but a moment later.

It amused Remus to no end. "A lion, eh, James?"

"Oi!" James snapped harshly. "It's a magical lion."

"A magical lion with antlers?" Sirius inquired. He was pissed about the whole thing, Remus could tell. It ruminated out of his pores. Sirius was like that.

"Well, yes," James said. "It's the cousin to the jakalope."

"I think you mean jakoffasaurus," Sirius said with a yawn. "Stop referencing yourself, James."

The jet of silver smoke that snaked out towards Sirius' face actually managed to bare its miniature antlers as if it were charging, and the way it billowed actually made it look like some sort of four legged animal.

The counter was the really unexpected thing. Sirius left hand swung up, twirling his wand, and heading the little thing off so that it was dashed into nothingness. "Don't fuck with me, James," Sirius said, switching his wand hand.

James puffed air at him. "Maybe we'll throw the "with" out."

The mask of anger on Sirius face cracked into a million little bits.

"Don't fuck me, James," James crowed in a falsetto voice. "I can't take it!"

Sirius' wand bounced off James' temple, and flew back to Sirius' hand. "Ow!"

"You're a couple of wankers," Remus threw in casually. Sirius' head swiveled, owl like toward him, wide eyes fixing him to the tree he was leaning against.

"You want to be a part of this too then, Lupin?"

"No."

"Yes."

"No!"

"No means yes," James said, and Sirius was bounding over a log, arms spread screaming, "Tickle fight!"

Remus squealed as the bigger boy pinned him down.

"Who's the wanker now, Remus?"

"It's still you!"

"I don't think so!"

"Get him, Remus!" Peter jeered from a few feet away, but Sirius was heavy, and it was impossible to actually move beneath his weight. All Remus could really do was bat at Sirius' hands, and snap his teeth menacingly.

And then, he suddenly had skin in his mouth, and Sirius was laughing, but Remus wasn't anymore. He'd rolled the other boy over somehow. They were in the woods. It was getting dark. There were red marks on Sirius' neck when he pulled back.

"I bit you," he said, cutting off the stream of light hearted laughter.

"Yeah?"

"I bit you."

"Happens all the time."

"Sirius-"

"I trust you," Sirius said, reaching up, and brushing fingers through Remus' hair.

Remus felt warm for a second, warm, and happy. Like it didn't matter at all. Like he had the day he'd woken up mostly healed, and Sirius had just carried on because for all the bite mattered, it didn't really. Not at all. Not with his friends. Not even Peter cared. And in that moment Sirius had this smile on his face, something easy. Things always seemed easy for Sirius.

And then James' hands were under Remus' arms, and he was hauling the other boy up. "Well enough of the making eyes at my brother husband, Remus. You know Sirius likes it when you bite him."

"Brother husband?" Regulus asked.

"Adopted brother. Also my husband," James explained.

Regulus looked disbelieving as Sirius was helped off the ground as well.

"We should head home," he said after a moment of bafflement. "It's getting dark."

"Better run home to grandmother's house before Remus gets us, eh Sirius?" Peter asked. Sirius socked him in the arm hard enough to make him wince.

"That's not funny Pete."

"Ow, shit. I get it."

"Good."

The next day, sitting alone in his room, Remus' vague, vapory patronus snapped it's forming jaws, and flattened it's half-there ears.


	7. The Men And Women Of Disrememberance

    Severus had a bad feeling about the absence of the Marauders from school grounds on Tuesday, but they were back where they were meant to be by Wednesday, Regulus in tow and everything.   
  
    But where had they been, and why did they crowd around his table at lunch? James looking not too non-conspicuously down Lilly's blouse, and Sirius looming menacingly at even the slightest unexpected movement. As if he were fit to pounce.   
  
    "So when's the next trip?" James asked deftly inviting himself, and his obnoxious friends along.  
  
    "I'm not sure," Severus said to his bagel. Lilly had brought him some salami today, and he'd so been looking forward to it. Now it was all ruined.  
  
    "Oh come on," Sirius said as James' got horribly distracted by Lilly's arms adjusting on the table.  
  
    "Potter, you are three seconds away from a bat bogey hex," Severus warned.  
  
    "What did I do?"  
  
    "Look," Sirius interrupted. "Just tell us when you're planning to go back, and we won't even bother you while we're all there."  
  
    "Taking you in the first place was a horrible mistake," Severus said.  
  
    "Yeah, well would you prefer us go alone?"  
  
    "No."  
  
    "So?"  
  
    "This saturday."  
  
    "Thank you," Sirius said. It struck Severus as entirely odd. Black had a habit of not really giving him the time of day no matter what he did. "I was thinking we could work on some basic hexes for, like, defensive purposes."  
  
    "We were going to do charms," Lilly said.  
  
    "What kind?"  
  
    "Not the hurt people kind, Sirius. You're too focused on that. Maybe you should practice color change charms, or levitation."  
  
    "Don't try too hard, Lilly, you'll strain his brain if you introduce a new way of thought too soon."  
  
    Sirius glared angrily. "Look," he said. "If there are people watching us they could be a potential threat-"  
  
    "Is everything a potential threat to you Sirius?" Lilly asked, but Severus knew Sirius had a point. He had a pretty good point, even.  
  
    "Still, only one spell at a time," Severus reminded.  
  
    "I really need a place to stay," Remus said nervously, interrupting the conversation. The Marauders' eyes were all wide as saucers suddenly. "It's been two weeks, I haven't got much longer."  
  
    The second good point made by a marauder in three minutes, something was wrong. They were all looking at him except Remus, and Lilly. Even Regulus looked expectant.  
  
    "We could lock him in a vault in Gringots," Peter suggested after a moment of silence.  
  
    "Don't be an idiot, Pettigrew. There are still Goblins all over that place. Not to mention the magical traps, and complexities in even getting to the vaults which doesn't cover getting one open or closed. Even if you could pull it off, you'd probably just get him stuck in there, and he'd starve to death," Severus said.  
  
    Remus looked pale. "I can wait it out in my closet at home, but I'll need some wards."  
  
    "Protective, and non violent," James threw in, clearly trying to gain Lilly's approval.  
  
    "Wards it is, then," Severus declared, baffled by the fact that he had somehow become the leader of this amaglamatory group.  
  
    Mr. Markstead leaned over the table. "I'd never have expected the seven of you to start playing video games together," he said softly. They all blinked owlishly at him. "I'm proud of you all, getting over your differences, and past problems like that."  
  
    Remus coughed a bit of milk up into his hand as covertly as possible, and Mr. Markstead moved on with an awkward thumbs up.  
  
    "I supposed we have our cover," Regulus said.  
  
    The rest of the week plodded along in an awkward way. None of the marauders other than Peter said anything disparaging around him. Mostly he was ignored. A few times they singled him out to ask questions. It was the oddest thing that Severus had ever experienced.  
  
    Lilly seemed to think it was a good thing, and yet Severus was less inclined to believe it was due to a change of heart so much as now they saw him as a means to an end. He knew when he was being used. And yet, Lilly was right that it was better than the alternative.  
  
    By the time Saturday rolled around, all of them were frothing at the bits they'd so kindly donned for his sake. Remus' nervousness could have been attributed to the whole lycanthropy thing, though. The fact that it was the day of the new moon. The two week anniversary of his bite.  
  
    He dropped them off with Lilly in the building that had once been Flourish and Blotts, and took Regulus with him to scavenge for potion ingredients. He was nervous about it, but he thought he'd found a recipe for something that would help in one of the more advanced potions books. He would have to perfect it first, but it was a possibility that he could ensure that Remus was safe, and not a threat to anyone else.  
  
    They found their way to a building that's sign had completely rotted away, though a few remaining adds in the dusty windows advertised it as Slug and Jiggers Apothecary. It was running low on redeemable supplies, but some of the plants had taken root, and were growing in the back where the roof had fallen in.   
  
    He needed monkshood, and lots of it, considering it was the main ingredient. He also needed a fresh bezoar, and a few other odd things he didn't know how on earth he was meant to find. The wolfsbane was growing in abundance though, taking up one corner of the shop proudly with it's purple flowers. He picked two whole handfuls, and sealed them into a small container in his backpack as Regulus looked through a ledger to see where they'd even found goats to get bezoars from round about here.  
  
    There was a small crashing sound, and when Severus looked up in a panic to see what it was, all he really caught was a flash of something golden disappearing around a corner. Dread set in, as he held a hand out to Regulus, already reaching for his wand. They should have stayed with the others, he thought, slipping back into the straps of his bag. There was safety in numbers, and he'd had to go and completely disregard that.   
  
    Regulus suddenly looked more like Sirius than ever before, lips pulling back from his teeth a bit. His hair began to lift itself from his head the way Sirius' so often did when he was angry. It was something Severus had never really thought of before, but now it was so obviously one of those subtle signs of magic that he didn't understand how he'd missed it. The wand in Regulus' hand quivered, and sparked.  
  
    "It was probably just one of the animals from Eyelop's," Severus said. Regulus' shoulders instantly eased back down.   
  
    "You're certain?"  
  
    "I can't imagine it being anything else," Severus said, though he was lying. Regulus looked at him nervously, but slipped his wand back into his sleeve anyway.  
  
    "Let's go back then," the other boy said warily.   
  
    "They'll probably be wondering at this point anyway, and I don't want to mention the possibility of the Wolfsbane Potion yet if I'm not positive I can pull it off."  
  
    "How will you know you've done it right?" Regulus asked.   
  
    Severus shrugged. "Have to tackle that once I get to it, I suppose."

* * *

  
**Chapter 7: The Men And Women Of Disrememberance**

* * *

  
    The man came calling on Severus on Sunday morning when it was too early for anyone who was sane to really be awake, but Severus had been up all night trying to start the potion. He was blonde, and beautiful in the way that stories tended to portray their protagonists. He was almost similar in a way to Sirius, and Regulus, but lighter, and more refined.   
  
    Severus frowned at him, not understanding what was going on that this person who looked like he belonged in a movie as a replacement for David Tennant was on his front step.  
  
    "My name is Lucious Malfoy," the man said, holding out his hand cordially. Severus eyed the proffered appendage. "May I come inside?" Lucious asked, ringing his hands politely when Severus didn't shake with him. The smile on his face didn't falter once, and after taking a moment to look over the clothing he was wearing, Severus pulled the door closer to its frame.  
  
    "Are you some kind of evangelist?" Severus asked, eyeing the nice suit, the black tie.  
  
    Lucious threw his head back, and laughed the way a person would expect a baby to, all pure, and happy. It probably would have swept many of people off their guard. Severus was used to Sirius Black though, and this Lucious Malfoy was falling a bit flat of the casual charm Black tended to employ.  
  
    "No. No," he said. "Though I would like to speak to you."  
  
    "About what?"  
  
    "About Diagon Alley."  
  
    Severus slammed the door in the man's face, and locked it, turning on his heal to walk back up the stairs to his room. The lock turned itself happily back around the minute his back was turned, and Lucious showed what it was lurking beneath the surface that had Severus so upset by him, opening the door with that same easy smile, and stepping in uninvited.  
  
    "I really must insist, as it's very important," the man said.  
  
    Severus felt a cold sweat break out on the back of his neck. The man's light blue eyes pulled up further in mock appreciation.  
  
    "So, would you like to show me to a seat?" he asked.  
  
    Severus did, quietly, not wanting to trifle with someone who was clearly magic, and probably much better than he was at the things he could do. "You'll have to be quiet though," Severus said. "Parents might wake up."  
  
    "I'm sure I can handle your parents," Lucious said dismissively. "Would you like a cuppa? I'm parched."  
  
    Severus nodded meekly, and turned to the kitchen to put the kettle on.  
  
    "This is quite a quaint little house you have here- I'm not entirely sure I got your name."  
  
    "It's Snape."  
  
    "And the first one?"  
  
    "Severus Snape," Severus amended.   
  
    "Wonderful name, that," Lucious said happily. "I believe I know who you are, actually. Your mother's name is Eileen isn't it?"  
  
    "Yes," Severus said softly to the tea kettle. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on, or who Lucious was beyond trouble. The warning bells in his head were only getting louder the longer this odd little confrontation went on.   
  
    "Eileen Prince. She was a pure blood. Quite a talented witch too. Too bad she had to go and marry a muggle. Seems he's ruined her whole life, doesn't it?"  
  
    "Quite," Severus said.  
  
    "You know it's always a shame when Wizards mingle with muggles. Poor things can't really wrap their heads around magic existing. Must be horribly tumultuous for them finding out."  
  
    "Seems so."  
  
    "How's that tea coming along?" Lucious asked, throwing a glance in Severus' direction. "Things always take longer the muggle way. I bet you wish you had a house elf right about now."  
  
    "I'm not entirely sure what a house elf is," Severus said. Lucious frowned.  
  
    "Shame, that. Regardless, I wanted to talk to you about potions."  
  
    "Potions?" Severus asked nearly blindsided by that. It seemed so odd, and non sequitur.   
  
    "That's right. You said you were going to try your hand at Wolfsbane yesterday, didn't you? Quite a dangerous move. It is a very advanced brew."  
  
    "I'm aware."  
  
    "Anyway, I wanted to check up on that. Perhaps help you out with unobtainable ingredients, see how it's coming along."  
  
    "Why?"  
  
    "Why? Oh, well of course you don't know," Lucious said with a small half laugh as if cursing himself for having forgotten. "You see, my friends and I, we're trying desperately to restore the wizarding world to its rightful order, but it's been dreadfully slow work going through and finding all of the magical boys and girls scattered to the wind by the whole thing, and replacing their memories. We need a little help, you see. As much help as we can get from as many different kinds of people with different kinds of strength, and you are good at potions."  
  
    "So you need me."  
  
    "That is exactly what I'm trying to say," Lucious said as the tea kettle began to whistle. he clapped his hands together gleefully. "Ah, tea time. I don't suppose you have any Earl Grey do you?"  
  
    "It's Twinings."  
  
    "Yes. That'll do nicely."  
  
    Severus made the tea in a mug, and set it down in front of the man.   
  
    "Now that this is all sorted out," Lucious said, spelling his tea a bit cooler. "How about you show me how far you've gotten on that Wolfsbane."  
  
    Severus lead him up the stairs to his room. The potion was in its formative stages, the wolfsbane distilling on his desk. Lucious looked rather impressed.  
  
    "So you've scavenged all this?"  
  
    "Yes."  
  
    "Why go to all that trouble?"  
  
    "I like potions. Only thing I'm really good at."  
  
    "That's quite alright," Lucious said. "What else do you need to make it?"  
  
    "Everything else really." Severus picked up a list of ingredients he needed, handing it to Lucious. "And as much of it as possible."  
  
    Lucious hummed looking at the paper. "Why?"  
  
    "Just trying my hand," Severus lied. "I want to be able to perfect it."  
  
    He got another hum for that. "Here, Lucious said, whipping out a little business card. "Come to this address in two days, and I'll have everything you need."  
  
    Severus nodded as Lucious finished off the rest of his tea, and excused himself from the house with this list. There was a tense moment of silence, Severus looking nervously at the floor, and wondering what on earth had just happened. The only thing he knew for sure was that Lucious Malfoy had been that odd flash of gold at Slug and Jibbers the day before.


	8. The Waxing Moon

    Lilly's phone rang at about seven o'clock Sunday morning, waking her up from a dream about an icelolly that wouldn't let her lick it. It was Severus, as she was told by the picture of the raven on the screen.   
  
    "I've something I need to talk to you about," He said without any preamble, or explanation. "Could you come round for tea?" Then he hung up.  
  
    She really hoped his parents wouldn't be awake for whatever meal they were having. Probably breakfast. She brought over a lunchbox full of toast, and a jar of jam because Severus tended not to have much by way of food.   
  
    He opened the door suspiciously, and then rushed her inside, closing, locking, and charming the lock.   
  
    "There a reason for all this?" she asked, gesturing with the lunch box.   
  
    "There's been a recent development," he said urgently. There was a used tea mug on the coffee table which he eyed nervously as he took a seat on the couch.  
  
    She eyed it as well. "Recent development?" she asked.  
  
    "I was visited by a wizard named Lucious Malfoy this morning," he said as if it were not still morning at seven fifteen. "He offered me supplies to make that potion I was talking about in exchange for my participation in an effort to restore the wizarding world to its former glory."  
  
    "Well that sounds wonderful!" she said.  
  
    "I don't like it."  
  
    "You don't like anything."  
  
    "He gives me the creeps."  
  
    Lilly sighed, opening up the lunchbox, and spreading jam out onto a piece of toast for him. He thanked her as he took it. "Everything gives you the creeps, Severus," she said, preparing a second piece of toast for herself. "Everything's always 'too good to be true'."  
  
    "That's because it is," he insisted, staring at the jam on his toast.   
  
    "Can't you just see this as a good thing? All you've ever wanted was to meet other witches and wizards."  
  
    "No, you don't understand."  
  
    "What don't I understand, Severus?"  
  
    "He unlocked my front door, and let himself in when I didn't want to, and then he forced me to make tea while saying all these weird things."  
  
    "Maybe that's just how wizarding society works."  
  
    "I know it was different, but I'm nearly positive it wasn't that different, Lilly."  
  
    "It'll be fine, Severus. It even sounds like a good cause. I think you should do it."  
  
    He was still frowning at his toast. "I suppose," he said in a dejected way. She couldn't wrap her head around what it was that was bothering him so very much. It didn't make sense. Of course, that was just how Severus worked, in the end. Every time he got what he wanted, he had a habit of refusing to believe it was actually good.  
  
    "Do you want me to make the tea this time?" she asked. He shrugged, which she took as a yes.  
  
    "This is good for everyone though. It might mean you're actually able to help Remus."  
  
    "Likely not by this full moon," Severus said. She waved a hand to dismiss that.  
  
    "Regardless."  
  
    "We still need to work it out so that everyone will be safe this full moon. Werewolves are vicious towards humans while they're transformed, and the person in there has no control over themselves without the aid of Wolfsbane."  
  
    "I guess considering what happened last full moon, we can't really set him free out in the woods in good conscience."  
  
    "And be responsible for uncounted deaths, and turns? I don't think so. I don't think even Black and Potter would be able to justify that to themselves."  
  
    He was right in that infuriating way again. "So we'll have to ward his closet for sound, and impact, huh?"  
  
    "Probably."  
  
    "How strong is a werewolf?"  
  
    "How strong is a real wolf?"  
  
    Severus had a good point. They had no idea what they'd gotten themselves into. Poor Remus. She couldn't even imagine what he must have been going through. He didn't seem happy about it in the least. Not at all. At best he seemed to be coping. Something that the other members of his unit seemed to be surprisingly aware of. The way they moved lately seemed to be entirely concerned with Remus, and his well being.   
  
    Sirius never left his side, and when all four of them walked together they encircled Remus as if they were readying themselves for some kind of pointed attack on the boy. It was much more than she ever would have expected from them. Especially Sirius, considering Sirius was the kind of person to wear a pink triangle on his shirt and think it excused him from flack for using homophobic slurs.  
  
    "Maybe they've found something more conclusive," she said.  
  
    "We can only hope, considering."

* * *

  
**Chapter 8: The Waxing Moon**

* * *

  
    Remus woke up in the chair, facing his bed. It was dark. He had the feeling of something skirting around the edges of his vision. Something big, and vicious. For a moment, he was convinced it was the wolf come back to finish him off. But it was only him. He was alone in his room, in a cold sweat.  
  
    He took a deep breath, and tried to focus on the light there was. He could see all the familiar shapes, smell all the familiar scents. He caught a whiff of something deep, and earthy, like it had been running through the dirt with a sweet undertone. Sirius. Beside it there was a lofty scent of air, and candies that called itself as James. Peter was behind them, smelling like anticipation as Sirius climbed leisurely up to his window, and knocked four times, waiting a moment for before giving a fifth.  
  
    "I know it's you, Sirius," Remus said just loud enough for the other boy to hear him. Sirius laughed, and slid the window open.  
  
    "Surprise!"  
  
    "You're all idiots."  
  
    "Ah, come on, Moony."  
  
    "Moony?"  
  
    "Yeah, cause you know- you're a werewolf."  
  
    "So help me Sirius I will push you out of that window, and I won't even feel bad about it," Remus said, walking across the room to look out over the boy's head.  
  
    James and Peter waved up at him with big smiles.  
  
    "Don't be like that, I think it's cute," Sirius complained.  
  
    "It's about as cute as you are."  
  
    "I think that's an insult," Sirius said with mock indignation.  
  
    "Hey, would you stop arguing with your boyfriend, and get him down here?" James asked impatiently.   
  
    "Would you care to come down, milady?"  
  
    "I'm going to fucking end you, Sirius," Remus said swinging a leg out of the window, and onto the lattice where Sirius was perched, pushing himself off so that he dropped to the ground, and rolled. Sirius followed shortly after with a laugh.  
  
    Peter was holding a book about the size of a large cat in his hands, a finger slipped between the pages.  
  
    "Pete says he's found something," James said in order to helpfully explain the obvious.  
  
    "So all the books say that werewolves are only vicious towards humans. Basically I had the thought "well what if we weren't humans"?" Peter said. "It seemed really silly, until I found a book on it yesterday."  
  
    Remus was quiet as Peter opened to a page headed with The First Steps Towards Animagery.  
  
    "It's something you only have to do once, and then you're able to do for the rest of your life on command, and as animals we'd be able to keep you from getting into trouble on full moons."  
  
    "It looks dangerous," Remus said. Sirius, and James both laughed.  
  
    "Come on, Moony. We're best friends. The four of us would die for each other," Sirius said. Like dying would be easy, and painless, and nothing to worry about in the end.  
  
    "Just because you're a martyr doesn't mean everyone here wants to die," Remus said.  
  
    James rolled his eyes. "Jesus, Remus. We're family. It'll work out, and if it doesn't, I think it was worth a shot, you know?"  
  
    Remus didn't know what to say. He half didn't want them to even try. They were too young, and too inexperienced. They would mess it all up, and be done for, and yet, Sirius had all those things he half remembered about the past, and James just casually did things without even thinking. Things that should have been hard.   
  
    And if they could pull themselves through, they could certainly pull Peter through.  
  
    "It's your funeral," Remus finally decided, throwing his hands into the air. "Just don't expect me to stand at your graves in a sandwich board that says 'I told you so'."  
  
    They laughed, and Remus worried for a moment that they'd wake everyone up, standing on his front lawn in the middle of the night like lunatics.  
  
    "By the way, James said proudly, "I think I'm getting that Patronus thing down pretty well."  
  
    "Oh yeah?" Remus asked, not expecting him to pull out his wand, and let the thing fly right there. The animal wasn't defined, but it was nearly recognizable as it pranced, shimmering, across Remus' front lawn, tossing its antlered head. It stood taller than Peter at the shoulder, and when it came to a stop, it fixed them with an odd, eyeless gaze.   
  
    "I think it's a deer, James," Sirius said, reaching out, and touching it. His face lit up with a smile instantly. "Cool. Fitting."  
  
    "Yeah. Not what I'd hoped for though. I was thinking it would be something a bit more bold."  
  
    "Nah," Sirius reaffirmed. "It's fitting."  
  
    "Doubt it's strong enough to beat of a dementor," Remus said, reaching out, and touching the buck's fuzzy muzzle. It felt like happiness had been personified. He tried not to smile, but he didn't really have the strength to keep it all in.  
  
    "What's the memory?" He asked curiously.  
  
    "None of your business," James said in the most aggravating way possible, banishing the thing from existence. "I'm still the first one to actually pull it off."  
  
    "Not all the way, you tosser," Peter threw in. "Besides, mine's coming along. How's your's, Moony?"  
  
    "Please tell my my nickname isn't sticking," Remus begged. Peter shrugged. "Well it's fine, I guess. Looks like it has big pointy ears, but other than that it's hard to tell."  
  
    "How's yours, Sirius?"  
  
    Sirius shrugged. "Don't have many memories," he said. Peter, and James blinked vacantly at him, but Remus understood he was talking about that weird wall in his mind. "And I guess nothing of what I've got's good enough."  
  
    He scratched the back of his head. "It's just kind of little puffs of smoke. Doesn't even look like a real shield, let alone having physical characteristics."  
  
    "Then we'll make you happy memories!" James declared.  
  
    "If you don't get yourselves killed first, that is."  
  
    Remus' words didn't seem to have any effect on the general mood.


	9. Walpurgis Night

    Regulus had probably made a mistake agreeing to accompany Severus to the address of one Lucius Malfoy. He mostly felt this way because Lucius sounded very close to vicious. Which he understood was a childish way to go about it, and yet he couldn't help himself. The address on the card lead them to what looked like a massive empty lot, and the two of them stood outside in a stupor as to how on earth they were supposed to continue.  
  
    The blonde man seemed to materialize out of nowhere from the gap between two hedges. his hair was long, and swept over one shoulder of his expensive suit like he thought he was in some fantasy novel. Regulus tried to keep his lips over his teeth to keep from showing how unnerving he found this new person.  
  
    "Severus!" the man said, holding out his hands. "It's so good to see you accepted my invitation! I've got everything you need right this way."  
  
    Severus didn't question it, walking with what could have been confidence toward the strange person. Regulus regarded the situation nervously, feeling his wand in his sleeve the way he imagined detectives felt their guns beneath their arms.  
  
    "I see you've brought your friend from Diagon," the blond said, looking at Regulus. "Do tell him I don't bite."  
  
    "Regulus, this is Lucius Malfoy. He'll be helping us get potions supplies."  
  
    "Straight forward, and to the point. I knew there was something I liked about you." Lucius said. Severus' face remained impassive, and unchanged. "Well, I suppose we ought to get going. No point in standing out in the open like this. People will start to wonder."  
  
    And then he turned, and stepped back between the two massive hedges from whence he'd appeared, and stopped existing again. Severus followed him as if it were nothing odd at all. Regulus approached the hedges, feeling that same off deja vu creep up into the back of his skull as he sank his arm through, and watched it pop out of existence.  
  
    "Are you sure this is entirely safe?" he asked.  
  
    "Oh don't be such a muggle," Lucius said from the other side.  
  
    Pulling his arm back through, Regulus closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and stepped past the hedges. When he opened his eyes again, he was looking at a massive manor house done in pale colors with cream walls, and a black roof.   
  
    His brother would have sworn a blue streak across the sky, but all Regulus could do was stare lamely.  
  
    "Welcome to Malfoy Manor," Lucius declared. "Sorry about it's apparent nonexistence. The wards had to be updated after the memory wipe six years ago. You see," he continued, beginning to lead them down the winding front path. "It used to be wizards were able to see it, but muggles couldn't, but when they decided that the wizards should be muggles too, it had to be wiped of the map without being wiped off the map. It is a monument after all."  
  
    It looked more and more familiar the closer they got. Regulus had an intense desire to leave. He didn't want to get too close, and yet he'd promised to be company on this suicide mission. it was worse inside. There was this sucking feeling in Regulus' chest. Like being swallowed whole.  
  
    "Right this way," Lucius said leading them into a large sitting room, where people were sipping on tea from proper tea cups.   
  
    "Everyone, this is Severus Snape, our new potions master. Severus, these are the Knights of Walpurgis."  
  
    Regulus balked at that name. He knew it from somewhere. it had this eerily similar feeling, like he'd heard it falling from thousands of lips in his dreams his whole life. It was something big, and strange, and uncontrollable, associated in the back of his mind with horrors, and the need to hide in closets while people talked, pretending like he couldn't hear them.  
  
    "Who's that in the back there?" a woman with dark hair, and heavily lidded eyes asked. She looked familiar. The aristocracy in her face was something Regulus knew too well for it to be simple coincidence, and yet he could not place her.  
  
    "This is Regulus. Regulus-" Lucius trailed off, apparently having realized that he'd never gotten Regulus' last name.  
  
    "Black," Regulus said. Everyone was looking at him then. There was anxiety boiling in his chest, and stomach, and he tried very hard not to do anything that would seem odd to these strange people.  
  
    "Is Sirius with you?" The woman asked. Regulus went pale. "I do so miss him. He was so fun to play with. Ickle baby Sirius."  
  
    Regulus didn't know why, but he hated her as he said, "No he's not." He hated this woman he'd never met before, who was too familiar to quite be a stranger, who's name he hadn't caught. He hated her, and somehow he knew it wasn't on his own behalf that he did. It was on Sirius' behalf. Because no one talked about his brother like that. No one. Sirius wasn't a joke, or a child, he was something broken, and battered that was just trying to make sense of it all, and he had no idea where that knowledge came from.  
  
    "Such a shame. Though it's not like it matters much. I've got one cousin back. Black family all back together."  
  
    "Bella, you're confusing the boy. He still doesn't know."  
  
    "He doesn't?" she asked. "Well then fix it Lucius, or I won't let you marry my beautiful little sister."  
  
    "I don't," Regulus said, stepping back to try, and distance himself from Lucius. "I don't want it fixed. Whatever it is, I don't want it fixed."  
  
    "Meek as ever," The man beside Bella said in a deep voice.  
  
    "Don't be such a tosser, Rodo," Bella joked, pushing his arm with her open palm.  
  
    "I mean it, the Black boys were always such cowards. Do you remember how Regulus couldn't even cast a curciatus on a teddybear when his mummy told him to?" The man asked as Lucius took a seat on a couch adjacent to them.  
  
    Lucius motioned for them to sit down beside him, and so they did as a strange little creature with a big head, and bigger eyes poured fresh cups of tea for them.  
  
    "This," Lucius said as if continuing a previous conversation with Severus, "Is a house elf."  
  
    Severus nodded, accepting his tea.  
  
    "What's your name?" Regulus asked when the house elf handed him his own tea.   
  
    Bella let out a squeak that turned into a laugh. "Oh look, he's gone to make friends with it!" she crowed, and the elf's big ears drooped sadly.   
  
    "Dobby is Dobby, sir," he said quietly, and Regulus offered him a smile.  
  
    "Thank you for the tea, Dobby," Regulus said when his smile was returned. Bella was still laughing. Lucius set his cup back down on the table calmly.  
  
    "Severus, Regulus," he said politely. "This is Bellatrix LeStrange, and her husband Rodolphus. My lovely fiancee, Narcissa Black- Bellatrix's sister- and Rabastan, Rodolphus' brother. We are the collaborative head of the mounting resistance against the forgetfulness act of 2007."  
  
    "That sounds wonderful," Severus said to his cup. Regulus tried not to smile at that. It sounded so insincere. Lucius ignored his tone valiantly.  
  
    "We've been collecting as many magical boys, and girls as we can, and training them here," he said.  
  
    Regulus looked at Severus. This was what they needed. This was exactly what was necessary in order for them to learn.  
  
    "Won't they find out about that?"  
  
    "Nonsense," Lucius said with a laugh that was backed up by everyone else in the room. "The wards on Malfoy Manor are practically impenetrable."  
  
    Severus returned Regulus' look with unprecedented urgency.  
  
    This was everything they needed. They didn't need to agree with anything these people said. They could just use them as a means to an end.

* * *

  
**Chapter 9: Walpurgis Night**

* * *

  
    It was 12:00 Wednesday morning when Sirius answered the doorbell. Snape was standing there, staring blankly at his chest, with an arm around Regulus' back, trying desperately to keep him in place as he waved his hands frantically in front of his face.  
  
    Snape rang the doorbell again.  
  
    "What are you doing?" Sirius asked.  
  
    Snape's eyes went very, very wide, still staring at Sirius' chest. "Black, you're a door."  
  
    "How high are you?"  
  
    "No."  
  
    Sirius shook his head, as Snape blinked very hard, and seemed to come into being able to actually seeing him. "What the fuck happened?" he asked, shifting slightly.  
  
    Snape continued to stare at the place his face had been.  
  
    "We were asked to the home of a wizard named Lucius Malfoy," Snape said. "He introduced us to the people he's working with to restore the wizarding world to it's former glory."  
  
    "And?" Sirius prompted.  
  
    "And then they started handing around candy. It seemed impolite to refuse."  
  
    "Jesus Fuck," Sirius said, stepping aside, and pulling Snape through the door.  
  
    "I brought your brother home," Snape said.   
  
    "Yeah. I'm not really sure how you managed that," Sirius said, looking into each of Regulus' eyes as he smiled vacantly at the lights on the ceiling. "Regulus? Reg?"  
  
    "Yeah, Sirius?"  
  
    "Good," Sirius said, putting a his hands on their backs, and moving them into the living room. "Sit down," he said when they were standing properly in front of the couch. He took a seat on the coffee table, and snapped his fingers in front of Snape's wandering eyes.  
  
    "Thanks for bringing my brother home."  
  
    "I figured it was the most responsible thing to do."  
  
    "Now tell me who the fuck these people are."  
  
    "They call themselves the Knights of Walpurgis," Snape said in a sort of hazy, half aware way that made Sirius' skin crawl. He knew that name. It was something dark, and horrible that people ran from, and hid under beds because of.  
  
    "Why the fuck would you bring my brother around those people?" he asked.  
  
    "I wasn't sure who they were, and they have the resources we need in order to help Lupin."  
  
    Sirius shook his head, biting the insides of his cheeks angrily. "No. We already have everything we need. We're working something out. We'll be able to take care of him, he's one of us. We don't need help."  
  
    "But you do," Snape said, trying not to become distracted by something over Sirius' shoulder. "There's this potion. It will allow him to retain his mind during transformations. It's everything he needs."  
  
    "We have this under control," Sirius grit out between his teeth. Snape shuddered nervously. "I don't want to hear about these Knights ever again, do you understand me? Their back up isn't necessary, and it's a stupid idea to get in with psychopaths, and killers like that in order to try and keep people safe."  
  
    "But they have a place that you can freely do magic."  
  
    "I don't care," Sirius said harshly. He had this feeling of someone watching him. Like something was crawling up his back under his shirt, and wrapping it's hands around the base of his skull.  
  
    "They can get your memories back." He stopped, and looked at Regulus' blurry eyes where they'd focused on him. "Bella said-"  
  
    "I don't give a fuck what Bella said!" Sirius screamed, standing suddenly. The coffee table flipped over as if of it's own accord, and the books rattled on their shelves nervously. There was a small dark space, and he was being pushed back through layers of hanging fabric by a mocking voice, and insistent hands. "Ickle baby Sirius", it called over, and over again. "Come to play, ickle baby Sirius?"  
  
    "Bella's fucking crazy! She's not human! She's something else!" Sirius was screaming, but he wasn't screaming it at Regulus, and Snape sitting on the Potter's couch, he was screaming it at two impassive black columns who's eyes were like red lights somewhere high up their bodies.  
  
    Then all of the sudden, he was standing in the Potter's living room again, staring at his little brother, and his high school nemesis who were looking at him with horrified awe while the room lay in disarray. He had just enough time to wonder if he was the one who'd been secretly drugged at some cult's party when he heard the sound of James rushing down the stairs in a panic.  
  
    "The fuck is going on down here?" the other boy demanded. He was wearing pajama pants, and an unbuttoned shirt, eyes wide, and pupils contracted down to pinpricks.  
  
    "Sirius had a fit," Regulus said, still looking as if he'd met some inter dimensional apparition of destruction. "He turned into a big, black dog, and ate the sky."  
  
    "Okay, Sirius, what the fuck's wrong with them?" James asked, but Sirius didn't know how to answer the question. He felt surreal, and intangible, like everything was slipping through his fingers.  
  
    "I need-" he started, and trailed off.  
  
    "You okay mate?"  
  
    Sirius shook his head. The wall of blackness in his mind had reinstated itself, and was once again blocking all the things from before, keeping him quiet, and orderly. "I just-"  
  
    "You?" James prompted.  
  
    "I remembered."  
  
    "Bellatrix Lestrange," Snape said. "And the Knights of Walpurgis."  
  
    Sirius turned, and walked out the backdoor so he could puke in the grass. There were sounds upstairs, he could hear Mrs. Potter asking if there were robbers. "Should we get the bat?"  
  
    "It's alright!" James called. "Sirius just had a fit!"  
  
    "Oh. Could you take care of that honey?"  
  
    "No problem!"  
  
    James was standing closer to the house, somewhere behind him. "You okay mate?"   
  
    Sirius vomited again.  
  
    "What's all this about remembering? What don't you remember?"  
  
    "Anything."  
  
    "What'chu mean "anything"?"  
  
    "Regulus doesn't either. Nothing before I was ten years old. It's just." Sirius waved a hand in front of his face. "Blank."  
  
    "Nothing?"  
  
    "Nothing."  
  
    "And Snape knew about this before me?"  
  
    "Snape guessed because of Regulus. I didn't tell anyone other than Moony. I thought you'd think it was weird, and your parents would send me to a shrink or something."  
  
    "Well yeah probably," James admitted, clapping a hand on Sirius' back. "Are those two high?"  
  
    "As kites," Sirius said, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. "You wanna help me get them set up for a night of weird shit, and constant supervision, and clean up the living room?"  
  
    "Yeah, mate," James said. "And then we're gonna sit down, and have a good old fashioned chat about all this not remembering stuff so I can be proper mad at you for leaving me in the dark."  
  
    Sirius nodded, and headed back for the door. Regulus gave him a strange look, and Snape refused to even glance at him. It was an odd feeling. Sirius didn't know how to go about it. James cast a cleaning charm, and things started setting themselves to rights. It was going to be a long night.


	10. The Strange

Peter had climbed through the windows of all the houses in the Marauders' circuit many times. Of course, that was only three houses counting his own, but the frequency of his window hopping was such that he considered himself, like the other boys, to be an expert at these sort of things. Still, Remus' window was always problematic.

Unlike the Potter residence with it's over abundance of trimmings, and frilly little over hangs, The Lupin house was quite plain. A small two story fenced in by a number of other small two stories, that was just shy of being considered a proper town house, the Lupin place had little to grab onto or scale save for a trellis covered in carefully placed ivy outside of Remus' room in the front.

Sirius, and James made scaling the ivy look like it was easy work, hauling themselves up it rapid-dash, their hands and feet making easy holds of the most treacherous pieces of wood, but Peter could never really find in himself the courage to go at it so quick. He felt the need to stand on the ground in full view of the street, attempting to calculate his movements.

He didn't notice Remus looking out at him for about a full minute, and didn't remember until then that it was now nearly impossible to sneak up on the other boy. Lycanthropy did that apparently. Though he now seemed to be chronically ill, his senses were heightened. Sirius had a plethora of bullshit theories as to why. None of which Peter was allowed to tell Remus about.

"Are you coming up, or are you just staring at my foliage?" Remus asked nonchalantly.

"I'm coming up," Peter said, hoping onto the trellis, and trying his best to forget the fact that he didn't have a lack of death-perception the way James and Sirius did. "Give me a hand?" he asked when he reached the window, and Remus hauled him in.

"I got a call from James. Says Sirius's had a fit likes of which unseen previously on this planet."

"Didn't call me?"

"You didn't pick up. Asked me if I'd run the news over."

Remus shrugged one shoulder, and turned away. "Must be dead or something," he said, thinking on his phone.

"It sucks, doesn't it?" Peter asked, leaning up against the wall with his hands in the small of his back to act as a cushion. "Not living with them."

Remus shrugged his shoulder again. "I suppose sometimes, though living with Sirius would probably drive me to suicide."

Peter chuckled. He felt a sort of kinship with Remus that he had no place feeling with the other two. They were the outcast Marauders, and they both knew it. No one could live up to the kind of love and care that Sirius and James had for one another. The devotion and affection there would likely kill normal men. That, added to the fact that they lived together, left the others on the outside.

"You hate him that much?"

Remus face took an odd cast to it. Something thoughtful that Peter couldn't quite place.

"Something like that," Remus said. "You know he's got another girlfriend?"

"Must have missed that bit of gossip."

"Yeah, it's a bit racy, honest, considering the other two. Vanessa is still convinced they're going to get married right out of school."

"We're not even close to getting out of school. She should know that no one can hold Sirius down that long just by looking at him." Peter said. Remus laughed.

"So what's the news about this fit?"

"Word is, Snivilus brought Regulus home, both of them high off their asses talking about wizards, and witches, and this big magic party they been to."

"Good lord," Remus said, taking a seat on his bed with a hand held to his temple.

"So they're sitting there, and apparently Regulus said something. Sirius has what James referred to as "full on flash backs", starts yelling at him, and everything flies off the walls, and shit. When James got down the stairs, Sirius was so distraught he had to go outside, and puke his guts out."

"Flash backs?"

"Yeah. Sommat like that."

"Does that mean he's remembering?" Remus asked.

Peter cocked his head to the side, trying to let that question trickle into his ear. "Remembering what?"

Remus groaned. This would be a long story.

 

Chapter 10: The Strange

 

James was the one who was eventually tasked with watching the resident fade kids. Sirius wasn't well. That much was sure, and honestly, he would have rather been with his best mate, sitting up in his room, talking about whatever all this was, but that wasn't a possibility.

The bag in Snape's hand was, true to tale, filled with vials and jars of ingredients. James decided to leave them be when he was informed that many, if not all, were likely dangerous if tampered with in the wrong way. So instead he tucked Regulus and Snape into beds of blankets made on the floor, and took up watch from the chair in the corner.

It would have been easier with Sirius there, but Sirius needed his time. Sirius needed to cool down, and be normal again. The shaking in the other boys arms had told James that much. Sometimes there was just nothing he could do.

Sirius may have been his best friend, his almost brother, but that didn't mean he was an easy knot to untie. James lamented, not for the first time, his lack of Alexander-like confidence in problem solving. Maybe if he'd been given a different name at birth he'd be more keen on that. He hadn't though, and James suited him enough anyway.

Regulus fell asleep quickly, curling into a little ball in one of those moments that he resembled his brother too much for it to be coincidence. His soft breathing was the background for Snape sitting upright in the low-lit room, and staring at him.

"Get some rest, Snivvley." James said, finding it a bit odd that it felt more like a pet name than an insult all of the sudden.

Snape frowned softly, an expression which accentuated the size, and severe hook of his nose.

"What's your game, Potter?" he asked after a moment of prolonged silence.

"What you mean?"

"Why are all of you doing this? Behaving like this. You've been nothing but shit to me since we first met, and then I show you Diagon, and it's all pleasantry."

"Well, you're not exactly innocent of the shit slinging, Severus," James challenged. Snape opened his mouth to say something defensive, or maybe tell him not to use his first name, but James cut him off before he could say anything proper. "I figured we'd call it a truce. I don't like you much to be honest, and you've even been a git to Remus, so there's not much love for you here, but you're helping us learn things, and you're trying to help us help Moony so I figured we could at least give you the courtesy of not being horrid for a little while."

Snape's face twisted up strangely when his teeth clacked back together. He nearly went cross eyed from his inebriated attempts at understanding that.

"Can we just agree to hate each other in silence?" James asked, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. He felt it would be better that way. Maybe then Sirius would be a little less volatile, and Peter would stop relying so much on their mean streak. It would be more peaceful. Healthier. It was something he should have seen sooner, really.

"I guess so," Snape said softly. "Though I never really hated Lupin."

"You were always kind of a dick to him."

"Doesn't mean I hated him. I was just disappointed that he chose to stick close to shits like you when it was clear he was a much better person."

James felt an intense anger bark to life in the back of his skull, head rearing almost as if he were tossing it back defiantly. "Don't you fuckin' talk about us like that, mate," he said in a deathly quiet tone. "You can insult me all you fuckin' want, but don't you dare talk about my friends like that."

Snape looked wary, but he didn't break eye contact or move. It put James even more on edge. He felt the anger creeping up over the round of his skull, and down over his nose, deeper into his spine. "I know you don't think we're any good, but that's because you can't fucking see past that big ass nose of yours. Sirius is one of the best people I've ever met regardless of him being an angry git, and Peter might be meek, but he's got a potential for strength you wouldn't understand."

"Maybe it would be easier to see if you were willing to see it in me too," Snape countered. "I'm not so great, and I'm definitely not as shiny, or pretty as your mates, but I'm not horrible. I've never gone out of my way to hurt someone like you have."

"Doesn't mean you don't all the same," James hissed.

There was another silence, and the stared at each other all through it. Sizing up their opponent. James knew he couldn't back down. He wasn't the kind of person to ever be able to do that.

"Maybe we both have things to think about," Snape said then, lying back on the floor with his feet touching Regulus'.

James hated to admit that he was right, but there came times he had to be humbled by that, and this was one of them. He grit his teeth, and wallowed in the silence that followed.


End file.
